Towel-machine



0l SCHWIMMER.

TOWEL MAcHlNE.

APPLICATION FILED N Patented Aug. 2, 1921.

IIIIII'IIIEIII 0. SCHWIMMER.

TOWEL MACHINE. APPlICATION FILED NOV. 4,1919.

Patented Aug. 2, 19.21.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OSCAR SCHWIMMER, 0F LOS ANGELES,

CALIFORNIA7 ASSIGNOR TO PATENT PRODUCTS Town-MACHINE.

'Application led November 4, 1919.

To all 'whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, OSCAR SCHWIMMER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, county of Los Angeles, and State of California, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Towel-Machines, of which thel following is a specification.

rIhis invention relates to a means for dispensing toweling and contemplates an| advan`cement in several of those types of machines heretofore patented to Ine and involving generally the idea of paying out from a roll of toweling a determinate length governable by the operation of a lever.

I have found that in 'a great many instances, the lever is pressed down with such force that undue acceleration of the rollers occurs, causing a disarrangement and entanglement of the clean with the soiled toweling and necessitating at least partwise dismantling of the machine parts to straighten out the toweling.

This invention therefore has in view to obviate this difficulty by a simple means which .will make constant and uniform each unwinding of a determinate length of toweling; to provide a machine in which the extent of the loop exposed for use never varies; in which the take-up roller winds up eX- aotly as much toweling as is unwound from the supplyspool; to provide a simplified arrangement of mechanism to economize space, and in which, under no condition of disorder or disarrangement, the soiled toweling may come in contact with the clean toweling or become entangled.

Other advantages, objects and features will appear froml the subjoined specification in connection with the accompanying drawv ings, representing a preferred form of embodiment of the invention, and in which- Figure l is a plan view showing the four rollers and the operating mechanism there- Fig. 2 is a side view looking from the left of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a side view looking from the right of Fig. 1, one wall of the case being omitted.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary front View of the toweling supply roller showing the braking arrangement.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary plan view of Fig. 4.

Specification of Letters Patent.

f with Patented Aug. 2, 1921. serial No. 335,759. l

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary front view of the operating mechanism for the rollers.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary front view of the take-up roller and the actuating mechanism therefor, and v Fig. 8 is a fragmentary view of the takeup roller showing Jthe axle thereof provided a plane surface. Referring in detail to the drawings, especially to Fig. 3, the

toweling 1 is wound -upon a spool or roller 2, journaled in suitable brackets 3, that are secured to the back 4 of a .case 5. The free rotationhof the roller 2 is prevented. and the consequent unwinding of more than a determinate length of toweling, may be controlled by a frictional means, as a brake shoe 6, secured to a spring 7, which is fastened to one of the brackets 3, and which shoe bears against one end of the spool 2.

Below said toweling supply spool 2, is a plurality of spaced frames 8, also secured to said back 4. In these frames are journaled the axles 9 and 10, and 11 and 12, of foul` horizontally disposed rollers 9 and 10, and 11 and 12', the axle 9 extending in transverse slots 13 in the rear of said frames, and the axles 11 and 12 extending in transverse slots 14 in the front of said frames.

Connecting with the axles 9 and l2 are spring pressed means 15 for holding the roller or spool 9 in such firm engagement with the spool 10, and for holdingthe spool 12 in such firm engagement with the spool 11', that the toweling passing between these respective pairs of rollers is advanced solely by the revolution of them and is securely held by them against slippage. In this wise, the extent of the loop A on the outside of the case is held constant and the take-up roller, hereinafter described, operated in such manner that equally as much toweling is wound up thereby, as is unwound from the supply spool, regardless of the diametrical increase of the toweling thereon, and only by such gripping of the toweling by the rollers 1S this possible, since thereby the slipping of the take-up roller operating belt is made positive. At the same time, such sprlng pressed means enables the rollers to respond to the many irregularities existing in the toweling 1, that is drawn between said rollers. The rollers 9 and 11 are provided with flanges 16 and 17, respectively, to hold are spaced from the rollers '11 and 12', at

all times to prevent contact of the soiled with the clean toweling, which runs between, and is -drawn from the supply roller, by the rollers 11 and 12; thence emergesfrom the case; is returned through an opening .18 in the bottom of the case to within the same; passes upwardly between the rollers 9 and' 10'; downwardly between'the spaced sets of rollers, and finally isv wound upon a take-up roller 19, the axle 20 of.' which is journaled at one end in the slotway 21 of a bracket 22, and the other end of which is removably connected with a driving mechanism hereinafter described. As seen, suliicient slack is left in the toweling outside of the case for convenient and free use of each clean extent of toweling as it is exposed.

On one end of the axles 9 and 10 are mounted intermeshing gears 23 and 24, respectively, and on one end of the axles 11 and 12 are mounted intermeshing gears 25 and 26, respectively, the gears 24 and` 25 meshing with an, idler gear 27, journaled in one of the frames and provided to produce a motion of the rollers 11 and 12 reverse vto that of the rollers 9' and 10. c

' On the axle 10 is `mounted a pinion 28, which meshes with a gear wheel 29 loosely mounted on aspindle 30 secured in and extending from the Yframe. This gear wheel 29 is provided with a plurality of spring pressed pawls 31 and 32, coperating with a ratchet crank 33, removably fitted on said spindle, and which, when moved in one direction, engages said pawls 31 and 32 and causes the gearl wheel 29. to be moved with the crank. When moving the cranklin the opposite direction,'the pawls 3]. vand 32 slide over the ratchet teeth of the crank, which is normally under the tension of a spring 34. The hub 33 of said crank is provided with a pin 35, for engagement with a stop arm 36, projecting from the vfra-me to llmitt-he movement of the crank to one revolution. Further to limit .the movement of said crank in order fto regulate the presentation for use of a definite length of toweling, the frame may be provided with a hole 37 for'accommodation' of' another stop arm, not shown, complemen tary to the stop arm36,`and obviously a number of such holes may bev provided for still further limiting the/crankk movement.

The crank hub 33 is formed with a groove 38 for a split washer 39, Fig. 6, which prevents dissociation of the crank from the spindle 30. vFor convenience of threading the toweling, each of therollers 9 and 1 and the take-up roller 19 may be provided w1th a stud 40, 41 and 42, respectively, onto which a ring43 or other device, secured to the end of the toweling may be laced.

On the other endet the ax e l0 of the master roller 10 is a iixed a sheave 44 connected with a means, presently described, for operating the take-up roller 19, by a spring belt 45.

Oppositely disposed relativelyv to the bracket 22is a complementary bracket 46, secured to the back 4 ofthe case. This bracket 46 vis provided with a member 47, constituting with the bracket a bearing `for a hollow journal 48, formed with a plane surface, not shown, to accommodate the similarly shaped otherend 49 of the axle 20 of the take-up roller 19.v Fixed on said `journal 48, is a sheave`50, over which runs the spring belt 45 aforementioned, through which motionl is communicated from the master roller to the take-up roller, and to which sheave 50 is connected a Y ratchet wheel 51, with which coperates a pawl I52, to prevent the unwinding of the towehng on the .take-up' roller. As will be seen from Fig. 7, athe operating mechanism for the take-up roller is permanently iixed 1n position, so that the take-up roller may be removed without disturbing such mechanism or disconnecting any of its complementary parts.

To facilitate the placement of and hold the axle of the'take-up roller-19, in the slotway of the bracket 22, a latch 53 may -be provided.4 This latch is pivotally mounted on the bracket 22 and is formed wlth an arena-te pqrtio'n 54, 'conforming vapp'froximately to the contour of the axle and arranged to fit over the Aaxle and hold the same in place. The latch is normallyun- 4 der the tension of a spring 55, which holds same against a lug 56 on the bracket. The latch is yalsoforme'd with an inclined portion 57, whereby, pressure being exerted thereagainst by the axle during the act of insertion thereof, the latch will rise and thus permit the axle tol slide into said arcuate portion. .In this wise the manual op' eration of locking the roller in place is eliminated.

Thetoweling being properly threaded, it will be apparent that, as the crank is turned in a direction that will causer the pawls to engage the ratchet teeth of the crank, the rollers 11 and 12 will be revolved, thereby drawing from the supply spool 2 a length of tow'eling, which emerges from the case One of the chief advantages of the crank control as 'stated hereinbefore, is to produce` a slower and unlform motlon and fore'- stalling acceleration of the various rollers whereby the towelng is always evenly drawn.

through and the motion of the take-up roller equalized.

AWhat I claim, is

A toweling dispensing means comprising a oase having an opening in the front for advancing toweling therethrough and an opening in the Abottom at the rear for the withdrawal of toweling, a frictionally held toweling supply roller in said case, a plurality of pairs of rollers journaled in said case, the pairs of rollersv being spaced from each other, one pair of rollers serving to draw toweling from the supply spool and pass the saine for use outside of the case, and another pair serving to return used toweling to Within the casing, said rollers being provided with intermeshing gearing so that all of said rollers are geared together,

. a plnion on one of said rollers, a gear meshing with said pinion, a hand crank for operating said gear secured thereto by one direction clutch means, means to limit the ro tation of said crank in both directions, a take-up roller, means to operate said takeup roller, anda yielding means connecting said operating means for said take-up roller with one of said returning rollers to operate said take-up roller simultaneously With said feeding and returning rollers.

In testimony whereof I have set my hand.

OSCAR SCHWIMMER. 

